Thursday, November 24, 2005

Across

1 New name for Mr. Lee (5) - ELMER6 Avoids the jumps (5) - SKIPS9 In an Irish county, an artist has a mobile home (7) - CARAVAN10 Slightly less clever, but easy to enjoy (5) - LIGHT11 Someone to coddle (5) - MOLLY12 You'll admit the town centre has everything (5) - ALLOW13 Rather elderly for such speed (7) - SEVENTY15 It's of great value in management (3) - GEM17 Poke softly with a stick (4) - PROD18 A paint surface (6) - PATINA19 Look disdainfully both ways, always? (5) - SNEER20 Possibility of a companion getting the cane, maybe? (6) - CHANCE22 For this penetrating word, I trust to love! (4) - INTO24 Fish in the Elbe (3) - EEL25 One apt to swoon, being weaker? (7) - FAINTER26 A little collection of alms - a bit of help (5) - SMALL27 Teasingly long piece? (5) - STRIP28 Girl to see in the part of a lady? (5) - CINDY29 A refreshing place (7) - TEAROOM30 Creature unable to multiply? (5) - ADDER31 Find how to make finance work profitably (5) - LEARN

Down

2 Take your time with it in a new role! (6) - LOITER3 Sounded unoriginal (6) - ECHOED4 One doing the dirty out of wrath? (3) - RAT5 Ray's holding the money again, we gather (5) - RALLY6 It needn't contain Russian tea (7) - SAMOVAR (Thanks Tolstoy!)7 As you realise, it sounds discouraging (4) - KNOW8 Flower fertiliser (6) - POLLEN12 A note shiftily to make up (5) - ATONE13 An additive used in hospices (5) - SPICE14 Like a number of singers (5) - VOCAL15 Big Joe, a six-footer (5) - GIANT16 Police district or man, maybe (5) - MANOR18 Breaking a plate is a bit of a bloomer (5) - PETAL19 Hurry to spread a stupid scare about a politician (7) - SCAMPER21 He has a name for getting angry (6) - HEATED22 Eventually be punctual (2,4) - IN TIME23 Can be rented - by a nurse? (6) - TENDER25 Generally she's not beastly! (5) - FLORA26 Something to work on constructively (4) - SITE28 Pass for an officer (3) - COL

First time ever that I've completed a cryptic crossword. Deccan Herald, easier than most other papers, but what the hell! I'm so proud of myself!

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Yesterday was a weird day.

Woke up late.

Was late for driving class but drove like a pro. Went to fourth gear for the first time ever. Touched 70 kmph. Cool!

In college for my hall ticket - didn't have my ID (which I had misplaced) or a library card (which I had never had). Blew 50 bucks on a duplicate ID card, only to find the original today. After a spell of frantic running up and down two flights of stairs and some patient waiting in the company of a bunch of hopelessly impatient souls, managed to get a "no due certificate" from the library. Hall ticket had my second language printed wrongly as Hindi (it's Additional English). The usually jovial lady told me blandly to go and meet Mr. Uday in the JC Road branch. The usually stuck up dude seemed genuinely concerned. I wasn't worried at all, a fact that has been worrying me ever since. All I resented was the trip that I'd have to make to JC Road. Need a change of attitude.

Gaurav was most helpful. Went to JC Road on his bike. Uday wasn't there. No surprises there. The campus is pretty impressive. Swanky.

Had to wait for Uday to get back. Gaurav suggested that we watch Harry Potter. Next destination - Inox. The screens were flashing "Harry Potter - fast filling" in reddish orange by the time we got there. Got the worst seats in the hall. My fault, I'm ready to admit. I liked the movie. Ofcourse it didn't do justice to the book, but that's asking for too much. HPGoF is just too good a book.

The movie contributed generously towards a headache that had been building up gradually since the morning. Back to JC Road, Uday was back. He told me to go back to VV Puram in a dismissive manner that pissed me off greatly. Apparently I had to submit a letter to that asshole of a Principal for him to be able to do something about my hall ticket. Asshole.

Back in college, I had to walk around in search of a xerox shop. Can't ever find them when you need them. Found one finally, but exhaustion and indifference caused me to take the wrong road on my way back. And after all that, the asshole in the office asked for my admission receipt which I wasn't carrying. So my work wasn't done yesterday and I had to return to that place today.

The world contains quite a large number of assholes. Yours truly may be one of them. I don't know.

I returned home with a really bad headache. But I was feeling so happy :) . Why? I haven't the slightest idea. Slept for 12 long hours. 6 to 6. No tv, no studies, no dinner...

Sunday, November 13, 2005

I've been living in a perpetual state of deja vu. I do some things today. I did the same things yesterday. I will do the same things tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow..No. It's more like..I do nothing today. I did nothing yesterday. I'll do nothing tomorrow..I went through yesterday thinking it was Sunday. I've lost track of the days of the week.I'm permanently idle. That sucks.I need to snap out of my stagnant lifestyle. I need a job. I need a hobby. I need a kick on my backside.

I spend quite a lot of time on these three sites. Crime library is a great site. I see some raised eyebrows. I assure you I'm not some crazy psycho killer. But then again, you only have my word for it.

I like reading about the movies I watch, books that I read, music I listen to. Radiohead's fourth studio album is called Kid A. I find this kind of thing interesting..."the title "Kid A" refers to the first child born after an apocalypse, who rediscovers and reconstructs the idea of music for himself from scratch."

I find the concept of death really fascinating. Actually, not so much death as the afterlife. Ghosts and spirits and stuff. Not from a philosophical or spiritual point of view but from a creative standpoint. What I mean is, nobody really knows anything about ghosts. And the unknown can be interpreted in any way. That throws open this great big door for creative exploitation. Same thing with space and aliens. And a lot of other things.

I understand that I still owe everybody a birthday treat. If only everyone can throw that monkey called college/exams off their backs for a day, I can plan something. All colleges should follow a common exam schedule. Sigh.

My fourth post in less than 24 hours. Should help in my quest to become the most prolific blogger in existence. That's a little hard to achieve. Maybe I should set my sights lower. Maybe the most prolific blogger with an intelligence quotient in excess of 180. Yeah, that's me.

Friday, November 11, 2005

My third post for today. It's funny how I always update my blog when I'm don't feel like updating at all. Probably because I don't feel like updating when I have a lot of time on my hands. And I have a lot of time on my hands now. Nothing to do. Except study. And I'm not in the mood for that.

I'm trying to match my songs with my moods. Now, since I'm rambling, I'm listening to Ramble On - Led Zeppelin. It's inspired by the Lord of the Rings. Apparently Robert Plant is a huge fan of Tolkien's works. Who isn't? There's a line in the song that goes something like "in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair, but Gollum the evil one crept up and slipped away with her". And another one that goes "Sauron thought himself a fool when he was made Principal of Bishop Cotton Boys' School". And another "I tried to slip a knife through his head but found to my dismay it was made of lead."

I'm now a confirmed fan of Radiohead. Many of their songs are inspired by Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I shall read sometime. Paranoid Android - very nice song. So also Karma Police, Fake Plastic Trees and No Surprises.

I'm thinking of writing a song. Need a book for inspiration. Any suggestions?? Someone said Eton of the East. Hmm..

In Deutschland far,far awayThere was a man who went astrayHis crooked mind just couldn't resistThe Nazi call, so he did enlist.As he killed more men and blew more tanks,He quickly rose up the Nazi ranks.It was but a matter of time then,Before he became one of the Fuhrer's right hand men.While more and more Jews died in the genocide,No pity could penetrate his thick hideBut as the Allies descended on Normandy,Our man decided it was time to flee.As the windows shut on his world of crime,He found a place where he could bide his time.As the years passed by, he found a wifeWho brought 2 sons into his miserable lifeThe older inherited his evil streakWhile the younger turned out mild and meekHis wicked ways had left him richSo he bought a farm with a soccer pitchAnd an indoor pool and a karting track,So there was nothing really that he could lackBut Michael(a.k.a brother Cain)Drove Ralf(Abel) away from the racing laneAnd with him gone, Michael drove aloneHis limited skills he tried to honeBut the truth be told, he had no skillThough he found it hard to swallow the bitter pill. His cunning mind came to his aidHis dad stepped in, some bribes he paidSo every race was a Michael winWhile Ralf stayed honest through thick and thinIt wasn't very long beforeMichael was knocking on F1's doorHere he found that he was quite lostIn the company of the legendary Senna and ProstOne of them he had to eliminateTo secure the coveted winner's plateSo the plot was hatched before race no.3The location:Imola,the San Marino Grand PrixAyrton began in a familiar role,At the head of the grid, on his 65th poleAs Senna pulled away from the chasing packMichael deftly pushed him off the racing trackIt was a ghastly crash at the Tamburello chicaneThe doctors' efforts were all in vainAfter pulling off this diabolical schemeMichael moved on to a richer teamAnd with the help of their illegal carHe spread his reputation wide and farSo it is hardly a secret thenThe last world champion was Mika Hakkinen.

Must do something about the last line now that Alonso's come into the picture.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Happy Birthday to me.

To those who remembered and wished me a happy birthday, thanks and I love you allTo those who didn't remember but hope that I had a happy birthday, thanks anyway and I love you tooTo those who remembered, period, grr!

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Back from a nice trip.I'm thrust into the lap of nature and what do I do? I sleep. Beautiful surroundings and fresh air are very good sleep inducers. I did cut down a bit on tv time though, and my cousins even managed to drag my lethargic ass out for the odd game of badminton. And I'm now only 300 pages away from the end of Fountainhead. So yeah, a decent trip on the whole.

Watched three movies this past week. Sarkar, No Entry and Requiem for a Dream. The first was good, the second funny in parts, about the third I can't make up my mind. It certainly wasn't entertaining. It wasn't meant to be entertaining. It was disturbing, depressing, frightening, sad. So, so sad. It left me feeling so miserable.Don't ever take drugs. Please.